Claude Lefeuvre
Claude Jean Lefeuvre (February 16, 1918 - August 17, 2005) was a highly decorated French Army officer and Legionnaire who served throughout World War II, the First Indochina War, and the Algerian War. Early life and family Lefeuvre was born on February 16, 1918 in the town of Châteauroux, Berry. He came from a well-to-do middle class family; his father, Dominique Lefeuvre, was an attorney in a small but successful law firm which he had joined following service in World War I. Lefeuvre lived in Châtearoux for most of his childhood, but his family made frequent trips to Paris for his father's business meetings. He graduated Lycée in 1935, a year earlier than usual, and immediately enrolled in Saint-Cyr military academy. He graduated in May 1939, and was subsequently commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Infantry. Military service World War II Lieutenant Lefeuvre was posted to the newly-formed 1st Motorized Infantry Division based at Anzin, where he commanded a platoon in the 1st Battalion, 1st Motorized Infantry Regiment. On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium, and the French Army mobilized for war. Despite this, no offensive or defensive moves were made by the 1st Division, and Lefeuvre's men simply continued holding the Maginot Line between Anzin and Cambrai. On May 10, 1940, the Germans invaded both France and the Low Countries, beginning the Battle of France. The 1st Division was rushed to the front in Belgium, where they fought their first action in the Battle of Gembloux, holding the Germans back temporarily before quickly retreating. After holding their position in the coming weeks, the division retreated across the Lys river and into France, where they prepared to hold their ground outside the city of Lille. In the Siege of Lille, Lefeuvre's men, heavily outnumbered, fought back dozens of German attacks over three days in urban combat. By May 31, the order to surrender was given and Lieutenant Lefeuvre and the rest of the 1st Division gave themselves up to the Germans. For three weeks, Lefeuvre was held in a German prison camp behind the lines in France. When word reached him of Charles de Gaulle's appeal to the soldiers of France, he vowed to join the Free French in Britain. In July, he managed to escape and crossed the English Channel secretly with three other soldiers. In London, he joined the 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion, commanding a platoon in the 2nd Company of the 1st Battalion. The brigade's first assignment was an offensive against Vichy French West Africa in September 1940. In the Battle of Dakar, Lefeuvre's men advanced against the Vichy-held beaches, but were turned back and the attack was called off. In November, Lieutenant Lefeuvre crossed into French Equatorial Africa, and the Legionnaires secured the colony in the Battle of Gabon. After, they travelled north, joining the Free French Orient Brigade and taking part in the fighting in East Africa. At the Battle of Keren in February 1941, the brigade drove the Italians from their positions and captured the stronghold of Massaoua in April. In June, the brigade joined the campaign in Syria and Lebanon against the Vichy French. During the drive on Damascus, Lefeuvre's men were held up by resistance from Vichy troops in the Battle of Kissoué, which they soon overcame. In the Battle of Damascus later that month, Lieutenant Lefeuvre's men entered the capital city. After clearing the rest of Syria, the Legionnaires finally secured Lebanon in the Battle of Beirut in July. The newly formed 1st Free French Brigade arrived in Cairo in 1942 to help with the campaign in the Western Desert. They were heavily engaged in the Battle of Gazala in Libya starting in May, where, at the Battle of Bir Hakeim, Lieutenant Lefeuvre's men held off a combined Italian-German offensive for a month, only retreating because of casualties and lack of ammunition. Their defeat, however, had significantly delayed the Axis operation. In October, the brigade took part in the counterattack in the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt. Along with other French and British Commonwealth forces, the 13th Demi-Brigade pushed the Germans and Italians out of Egypt for good and chased them into Tunisia. Around this time, the 1st Free French Division was formed, and it went into action against the Germans and Italians in the Battle of the Mareth Line. By May 1943, the Axis forces in Tunisia had surrendered. Lefeuvre was promoted to captain and was decorated for his actions at Bir Hakiem. After months of extra training in the desert, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division was reorganized and sent to Italy in April 1944 to assist with the campaign there. As soon as they had arrived at the front, Lefeuvre's men were committed to the bloody and ongoing Battle of Monte Cassino. They took part in the final battle, rolling up the German flank and eliminating the enemy positions by the end of the battle. The Legionnaires continued the assault started in Operation Diadem and drove the Germans back across the Liri Valley, breaking the Gustav Line. After this hard-fought action, the French were withdrawn back to Africa, where they rested for a few months before taking on the next assignment. In August 1944, as a part of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France, the 1st Division landed at Provence and swiftly defeated the German forces stationed there. Later in the month, they attacked in the Battle of Toulon and quickly liberated the city. Pushing further into French territory, the division encountered heavy German resistance in the Vosges Mountains in September. Fighting continued into November, and in December the Germans launched their counteroffensive, Operation Nordwind. After this was repulsed, the French pushed into Alsace, fighting to clear the Colmar Pocket. The 1st Division pushed northeast towards the Rhine in January and February 1945, driving the Germans out of French territory entirely. In March, Captain Lefeuvre's men were temporarily detached from the division. They smashed through the Siegfried Line, crossing the Rhine into Germany and taking Stuttgart. Captain Lefeuvre and the Free French began to clear southern Germany, crossing the Danube in April. On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. First Indochina War Captain Lefeuvre stayed in Germany, performing occupation duties in the French sector, for six months after the war. In February 1946, the 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion was ordered to French Indochina, in order to restore French rule and to eliminate the Viet Minh nationalist insurgents. Lefeuvre's men arrived in Saigon, after which they began to commence anti-guerilla operations on the Thai border. After months of searching the jungles of Cambodia and Vietnam, Lefeuvre took a period of leave in Hanoi. In December, the Viet Minh attacked the city, beginning the Battle of Hanoi. Caught up in the fighting, Captain Lefeuvre struggled to hold sections of the city with an ad-hoc group of French and colonial troops. Superior French firepower began to tell, but it would not be until February 1947 when the city had finally been cleared. With the new year, Captain Lefeuvre was back with his unit, continuing to coordinate and lead operations. He and his men saw combat at Cà Mau, Cau Xang, and during the Battle of Cao Bằng in 1948 and 1949, as well as numerous other operations in 1950. In 1951, the Hòa Bình area was ordered to be retaken. In November, the French forces launched the Battle of Hòa Bình, and Lefeuvre's men pushed the Viet Minh from their positions and stopped a fierce enemy counterattack. By February 1952, the attack was halted and the French forces were withdrawn. In 1953, the 13th Demi-Brigade assembled at Tonkin. In 1954, they were directed to garrison the new French base at Điện Biên Phủ in northern Vietnam. Viet Minh troops had also moved into the area, and by January, Lefeuvre's men were completely surrounded. In March, the Communists began their assault, beginning the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Captain Lefeuvre's position recieved a direct assault, during which they were forced to retreat. In April, further assaults continued against the base, and the French repulsed them, forcing the Viet Minh back in a series of counterattacks. However, by the end of the month, the French had been forced back to the smallest perimeter possible. In May, Captain Lefeuvre led a breakout attempt, which failed. He was captured by the Viet Minh shortly after, and was force-marched north to a prison camp, where he stayed for four months until he was repatriated. Shortly after the Viet Minh victory, Vietnam was partitioned and the French completely abandoned the country Algerian War Upon returning home to France, Lefeuvre immediately requested to rejoin his unit. His request was granted, and he was soon promoted to Major. In June 1955, the 13th Demi-Brigade was deployed to North Africa, where a similar nationalist guerrilla movement was underway. Based in Guelma, the Legionnaires began a series of pacification operations which resulted in limited contact with the FLN insurgents. by 1956 and 1957, the intensity of the fighting increased. Major Lefeuvre led his men to destroy several insurgent cells and, by 1958, were making significant progress against the FLN. In 1958, the 13th Demi-Brigade stepped up its attacks, fighting several large-scale battles in the area around Oued Kelaa. From then on, more offensive operations were undertaken near the Tunisian frontier. In 1959, Lefeuvre was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor, recognizing his twentieth year of service to the French Republic. In April 1961, a group of French generals, unwilling to negotiate with the FLN, rebelled against the French government in the Algiers putsch. A hesitant Major Lefeuvre sided with the government against the traitors after hearing de Gaulle's appeal to French soldiers to resist the rebellion. With his men, he helped quash the putsch, disarming rebelling units and taking in prisoners. Lefeuvre was decorated for his part in putting down the rebellion. By 1962, as the eventual outcome of the war became clear, the amount of anti-FLN operations gradually decreased. In March, the 13th Demi-Brigade left Algeria for the last time. Occupation of Germany and conclusion of military service In 1962, wishing to retire from the infantry and the legion as a whole, Lefeuvre accepted an administrative position in the military forces occupying the Saar region in Germany. He carried out occupation duties for two years, when, on June 1, 1964, Major Claude Jean Lefeuvre officially retired from military service. Later life Lefeuvre lived from 1964 to 1967 in his home town of Châteauroux, when he settled in the Élysée arrondissement in Paris. The same year, he married Marie-Jeannine Picot, whom he had met while on leave in Paris in 1955. He also played a large part in helping Algerian army officer Fouad Sahnoun emigrate to France in 1962 and become a citizen in 1967. In the 1970s, Lefeuvre taught several classes at the École de l'infanterie in southern France. The two did not have any children, and both lived a quiet life until Mari-Jeannine's death in 2003. On August 17, 2005, Claude Jean Lefeuvre passed away. Views Lefeuvre was a devoted Gaullist, mostly out of respect for the old leader of Free France. He did, however, greatly disagree with the withdrawal of France from NATO in 1966. Lefeuvre was also a supporter of the French Empire, and initially believed in the missions in Indochina and Algeria as preventative measures to stop the colonies from descending into lawlessness. Later, as seen with his opposition to the 1961 coup, he accepted the inevitable fall of France's imperial possessions. During the coup, Lefeuvre hesitated on which side to join. He was loyal to the Paris government, and harbored a general dislike for the generals who had rebelled. However, he was also motivated to keep safe those Algerians, regardless of ethnic background, who remained loyal to France. In the end, he sided with the government, but helped many Algerians emmigrate to France in the years before the war's end. Lefeuvre was also a pious Catholic and remained so until his death. Awards and decorations First Croix de Guerre citation Lieutenant Jean Claude Lefeuvre, 1re Bataillon, 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère. Bir Hakiem, Libye, 8 Juin 1942. Equipment Lefeuvre used the MAS-36 bolt action rifle, along with its spike bayonet and VB rifle grenade attachment, as his main weapon throughout World War II and the First Indochina war. Even when British and American arms became more plentiful, he still preferred the rifle which he had carried since 1940. During the war, he also used the SACM M1935A pistol as his sidearm and carried the F1 fragmentation grenade. In 1955, after his return from Indochina, Lefeuvre switched to the more modern (and by now standard-issue) MAS-49 semi-automatic rifle with its knife bayonet and built-in rifle grenade launcher. He also took a MAC M1950 pistol as his new sidearm.Category:Soldiers in World War II Category:Soldiers in the First Indochina War Category:Soldiers in the Algerian War Category:French soldiers